Multilingualism – an asset for Europe and a shared commitment

Der Europäischen Union gehören 28 Länder an in denen 24 offizielle Sprachen praktiziert werden. Dies ist Ausdruck der kulturellen Vielfalt der Union, und damit ein wichtiges Kulturerbe. Jedoch stellt dies die politische Organisation, welche die EU ist, vor große Probleme im Umgang und der ständigen Kommunikation mit ihren Mitgliedern. Im Rahmen ihrer Bemühungen um die Mobilität und die interkulturelle Verständigung zu fördern, hat die EU sich auf die Flagge geschrieben, das Lernen mehrerer Sprachen als wichtige Priorität zu bezeichnen. Deswegen unterstützt sie durch Fonds zahlreiche Programme und Projekte in diesem Bereich. Mehrsprachigkeit in Anbetracht der EU, ist ein wichtiges Element in der europäischen Wettbewerbsfähigkeit. Eines der Ziele der Sprachenpolitik der EU ist daher, dass jeder europäische Bürger zwei weitere Sprachen neben der eigenen Muttersprache beherrschen sollte.

Das Streben der Europäischen Union nach „Einheit in der Vielfalt“ untermauert das ganze europäische Projekt. Die harmonische Koexistenz vieler Sprachen in Europa verkörpert diese. Sprachen können Brücken zwischen Menschen bauen, sodass wir den Zugang zu anderen Ländern und Kulturen finden, und es uns ermöglicht, einander besser zu verstehen. Fremdsprachenkenntnisse spielen bei der Förderung der Beschäftigungsfähigkeit von Jungen Europäern eine immense Rolle, und stattet sie optimal für die Arbeit im Ausland aus; ein Aspekt, der in den kommenden Jahren immer wichtiger zu werden scheint. Sie sind auch ein Faktor bei der Wettbewerbsfähigkeit; schlechte Sprachkenntnisse führen in vielen Unternehmen dazu, Verträge zu verlieren und stellen ein Hindernis für Arbeiter dar, die vielleicht eine Beschäftigung in anderen Ländern als dem eigenen suchen. Ein Problem in der Entwicklung ist auch, dass noch zu viele junge Leute mit Potential die Schule vor ihrem Abschluss verlassen, ohne über Kenntnisse in einer zweiten Sprache zu verfügen – Grund genug, den Sprachunterricht und das Lernen effizienter zu machen.

Eins der vielen Programme der Europäischen Union, zur Förderung von Sprachkenntnissen und Erweiterung des kulturellen Wissens ist das Erasmus+ Programm. Dieses ist interessant zu erwähnen, da es speziell uns Studenten betrifft. Erasmus +, welches Anfang 2014 begann, ist das neue EU-Programm für allgemeine und berufliche Bildung, Jugend und Sport für den Zeitraum 2014-2020. Die Förderung des Sprachenlernens und der Sprachenvielfalt ist eines der spezifischen Ziele des Programms. Im Erasmus + Programmführer heißt es: “Die vorhandenen Möglichkeiten, um sprachliche Unterstützung zu bieten haben den Auftrag die Mobilität der Studenten effizienter und effektiver zu gestalten, um zur Verbesserung der Lernleistung und damit zum Ziel des Programms beizutragen.“ Unter Leitaktion 1 des Führers wird sprachliche Unterstützung für die von den Teilnehmern für das Studium, die Durchführung eines Praktikums oder Freiwilligenarbeit im Ausland praktizierten Sprachen im Rahmen der langfristigen Mobilitätsaktivitäten zur Verfügung gestellt. Linguistische Unterstützung wird hauptsächlich online angeboten, wie z.B. E-Learning, welches Vorteile für das Lernen in Bezug auf Zugang und Flexibilität bietet. Im Programmführer heißt es auch, dass unter Leitaktion 2 strategische Partnerschaften im Bereich des Sprachunterrichts und des Lernens gefördert werden. Die Verfahren, mit dem Ziel, Sprachkenntnisse zu fördern, können beispielsweise Lehr- und Bewertungsmethoden, die Entwicklung pädagogischen Materials, Forschung‚ Computer-Assisted-Language-Learning‘ und unternehmerische Projekte mit fremden Sprachen umfassen.

Aus eigener Erfahrung mit dem Erasmus+ Programm, kann ich positive wie auch negative Fazite ziehen. Als ich im September 2014 nach Italien kam, hatte ich schon einige Vorkenntnisse in der Italienischen Sprache. Jedoch waren die nur ausreichend genug, um mich auf der Straße, in den Läden, und mit Freunden mehr oder weniger gut zu verständigen. Mir lag es natürlich auf dem Herzen, mich zu verbessern. Nicht nur, weil das komplette Studium auf Italienisch stattfinden würde, sondern auch weil ich sehr offen bin für verschiedene Kulturen, und ein sehr ambitioniertes Interesse habe, so viel von der Welt kennen zulernen wie es nur möglich ist. Also, nahm ich die Möglichkeit war, an dem vom Erasmus+ zur Verfügung gestellten Italienisch Sprachkurs teilzunehmen. Dies stellte sich nach der ersten Woche sofort als falsche Entscheidung heraus. Ich kam in eine Klasse mit überwiegend Spanischen Austauschstudenten, was ein großer Nachteil war, da diese ein sehr gutes Verständnis der Italienischen Sprache vorweisen konnten. Dies beruhte natürlich auf der Tatsache, dass Spanisch dem Italienischen sehr ähnelt und sie als Muttersprachler besser damit zurechtkamen, als ich, der zwar auch Spanisch-Kenntnisse besitzt, dem jedoch der Muttersprachen Aspekt fehlt. Durch diese erhöhte Präsenz Spanischer Studenten, muss sich der Professor wohl ermutigt gefühlt haben, den Unterricht schneller und schwerer zu gestalten, was er auf wiederholten Widerspruch meinerseits trotzdem fortführte. Nach einer Woche hatte ich genug, und war gezwungen, mir einen privaten Sprachkurs in der Stadt zu suchen, welcher natürlich auch mit steigenden Kosten verbunden war. Hier habe ich dann die Chance bekommen, die Sprache in meinem Tempo zu lernen und zu meistern. Also kann ich sagen, dass in meinem Fall Erasmus+ Sprachkurse nicht effektiv genug sind, da sie individuelle Defizite missachten, und darauf beschränkt sind, der großen Studentenanzahl so schnell es geht, Sprach-Kenntnisse zu vermitteln.

Ich denke, dass in Zukunft durch Beispiele wie meins, das Erasmus+ Programm verändert werden muss und sich die EU-Offiziellen Reformen einfallen lassen müssen, um wirklich dafür zu sorgen, dass alle Studenten die gleichen Chancen haben eine Sprache zu erlernen. Wenn dies geschieht, sehe ich eine großartige Entwicklung für die Zukunft und Chancengleichheit für alle. In der Bildung und im Beruf.

Italian Media in Germany

Germany is together with Argentina the country with the biggest Italian population outside Italy. Therefore, it is no surprise that next to Italian Restaurants you can also find a variety of Italian magazines either in bookshops or online. One example of these is the so called ‘Ciao! Magazin‘.

‘Ciao!’ is a magazine that provides information on current Italian events and culture. The spread of Italian culture and the promotion of the encounter between the two cultures is the primary objective of the newspaper. It also seeks to be a platform for the German-Italian dialogue, which deepens the connections of the two nations within the framework of the European idea. It publishes its articles in both, German and Italian.

‘Ciao!’ is a good example of the bottom-up policy approach (laid out by Kelly-Holmes e.a.), as it was founded in 1993 by the German-Italian cultural association ‘CONTRASTO’ in order to promote intercultural dialogue.

Italian in Germany represents one of the more viable minority languages. German has a Italian population of roughly 553.000. Although the first Italians arrived in Germany already in the Middleages, the biggest shift came in the 1960s with the rise in economic properity in Germany after World War II. With the highly democratic and economic outlook in Germany, it is a certainty that in no time soon, will the Italian language disappear. Rather it will increase, as ever more Italians seek new opportunities in Germany. Cultural associations such as CONTRASTO further ensure, that the Italian heritage is maintained and public schools in Germany offer very popular Italian language courses. Moreover, German Universities take part in the Erasmus programme and give the students the opportunity to get to know Italian and welcome Italian students in Germany.

I believe that the magazine is a very good opportunity for people, whether German or Italian, or from any other background get to read about Italy and current events. They can read it in either German or Italian and therefore compare each language and how the news are broadcasted. Although it is not clear how many readers the magazine reaches and how it advertises itself, everybody has the possibility to access it if interested, which makes it highly efficient.

I personally did not know it before but am definitely interested in reading more of its articles as so I can improve my Italian skills and be informed about what goes on in the country I have spent five months in. As the magazine already exists for 22 years, I believe that it can set an example to other minority languages to promote their identity and get involved with further integration into the German society.

Experiences with English Medium Instruction

By the age of 14, I decided that with the help of my parents I wanted to continue my academic education at the International School of Neuss, Germany. It represented a new challenge in my life but an interesting one because even as a young teenager I was very eager to discover new way of teaching that would help me in my youth goal to one day work and live in the United States of America. Full of ambitions, I took English language tutoring, which I needed as the subjects in the International School were completely taught in English. However, switching to an American educational system meant for me to repeat a year, as discussed with the school principle and my parents because I lacked in mathematical skills, that were far more advanced than in the German state school I attended. In the first two months at the new school, I immediately felt the difficulties of being taught in a foreign language as I often misunderstood the teachers and could only manage to do the homework with huge effort. This situation changed because of the excellent way of teaching English to mainly German students, and after one year I found myself on a fluent C1 level. From there on, I would not have any difficulties with the English language and at home even watched movies and read books in English, all the time. Therefore it was no question to me, whether I should attend a Univerity with english as the Lingua Franca.

What seemed surprising to me was, that it only took me a short amount of time to assimilate to my new environment, especially because I used to be very shy in my childhood. As already mentioned, I developed English skills in record time and was able to undergo detailed academic research and related work in English. Even more surprising was that I did not even think in German anymore. The English language was everywhere and had such an impact in my life, that I did not even act ‘German’ at all. I became so different from the people that lived in my small town, who were truly ‘German’, I had many international friends in school and when we went out together, talking English, I could see how people passing by viewed me as a kind of stranger because even though there are many minority languages spoken in my town, mostly by Muslim immigrants, English was still seen as something extraordinarily weird. This was in fact not surprising, but rather shocking.

Nevertheless, there are a few things that I would change if I could be in charge of deciding on EMI, I can only speak for my own experience at school and university though. At University I would like to see more English tutoring to help non-native English speakers to catch up faster to a professional level. There seem to be a lot of drop-outs who feel that their English capabilities were not sufficient and who found no help. This is indeed sad, as every student should have equal chances to undergo the studies and graduate. Therefore the University should invest more time and perhaps funding in English language courses that can also be offered to students who could otherwise not afford to pay for extracurricular courses. Moreover, tutors should be offered training programms which prepare them to deal better with the amount of international students and teaches them skills and tricks to communicate in a more native way, which can prevent a lot of misunderstandings among tutors and students. Tutors are seen as a kind of role-model and someone who is a true professional at what he or she teaches. It would be nice if he or she could then communicate his teachings in a way that is understandable to all. Of course this is not to generalize all staff at the University, but would be very beneficial for those who lack these skills.

Whatever the crtics might say about it, English Medium Instruction is in my eyes still one of the most effective ways to teach and educate a new generation of humans that need to adapt to an ever more globalizing world. The direction that it is taking us is forward into a future in which all societies need to be able to communicate and understand each other.

Me!

I grew up bilingual, with Portuguese and German both as mothertongues. My father, a Northern-German, my mother, a North-Eastern Brazilian, did not have many difficulties in raising me in a multi-cultural mindset. By the age of 4, that’s as far back as I can remember, I spoke ‘fluent’ German and ‘fluent’ Portuguese, something extraordinary in the little village I grew up in. By the age of nine, I was introduced to the English language in elementary school. Very basic classes and teaching methods laid out in games and playbooks, which made me develop an understanding that the world is bigger than Germany and Brazil. With this new international outlook, I took great interest in finding out about and explore the world. My travels as a child took me to destinations such as Brazil, Spain, the US, and France, with a lot more to follow. When I entered High School I chose French as a 4th language but stopped practicing it when I switched school with 14. The new school, an International School, laid great emphasis on a multicultural student community and hence offered a lot of different languages to learn next to English, which was the common academic language. Thus, I started to practice Spanish, which went on for 6 years. After graduating from High School and moving on to University level, I took up the Italian language course which I needed for my semester abroad in Torino, Italy. In a very short time, I learned Italian and brought it to a level that would allow me to follow Italian lectures and read Italian books. When I came back to Maastricht University I found myself in situations, in which I could even communicate with Italian students in their language, something very comforting for them and also lots of fun. Currently I am trying to perfect my Portuguese grammatical and vocabulary skills, in a Portuguese language course. This is, because I was raised bilingual but never learned to properly read and write in Portuguese.

I believe that multilingualism can only be beneficial to academic, professional, and social contexts. At least this is what I have experienced. Academic because I took an interest in international studies, literature, and was even able to give language lessons to fellow students myself. It prepared me well for entering the international environment at university and when it came to writing academic papers, I could rely on sources that many other students do not have access to because they do not speak the language. specifically when researching online news articles, I researched on Spanish, Italian, German, English, and Portuguese websites if it connected well to the paper topics. It benefited me professionally, as I underwent internships in different countries, and experienced on first hand the benefits of living and working in the European Union. When I worked for a political association in London, I had no troubles in filling out the tasks given to me and was even adapted to the way of business of the UK, which is different than in Germany. In a social context, multilingualism helped me in establishing personal contacts, communicating with international people and through them raising my awareness on different cultures.

These 5 languages, did not rip apart my identity as it is formulated by various experts but rather gave me a new identity. This new identity was that of a multicultural German, which in fact represents what Germany stand for, multiculturalism. I am German, but at the same time I consider myself a world-citizen.

From the After Babel course I expect to learn more and in more detail about what I already experienced. I want to find answers why and how the languages that I speak make me act and think a certain way, and with the course literature, I have many experts to base my personal research upon.

Bom dia World, was fuer ein buen giorno!

Finally we get to write blogs in university. Moreover, the theme is languages and identity…my favorite! With a multilingual background of five languages, I hope to dig deep into the interconnectedness of various cultures that not only influenced European history but also affected to a great extent the very outskirts of what used to be called the heart of darkness.

With German and Portuguese as mothertongues (yes, this is indeed plural), I experienced the many benefits of  being raised and educated bilingually. Not only was it easy for me to learn related languages such as English, Italian, and Spanish but by living in countries speaking these languages, I became familiar with the customs and lifestyles that people connect to these languages, hence becoming part of a multinational identity.